Editor's note: KPFA in Berkeley has provided much important programming about prisons, the prison movement, and political prisoners. Pacifica's lockout of the KPFA staff in July 1999 is a heavy move to stifle that voice, as well as many others. Below is a statement on the situation from women in the federal prison in Dublin, CA, with introductory comments from Claude Marks, a former political prisoner who recently got out of the federal system and who was a founder 25 years ago of the wonderful weekly program "Freedom is a Constant Struggle" (yanked by Pacifica 4 years ago). For more on the KPFA struggle, go to savepacifica.net. Support from around the country is greatly needed -- there is much you can do.
Introduction: As a former production director and news programmer in the 60s and 70s, we made a real commitment to bringing the voices of the movement from inside the prisons and the political prisoners to the public. This was and continues to be an important form of empowerment for those locked up within this nations' dungeons. Ironic that the plug was pulled just after a statement by Mumia Abu Jamal in support of the struggle to maintain this vital voice. I can also speak from my own experience inside these same prisons about the importance of KPFA in not only lending a voice to those victimized by the injustice system, but also in bringing a dose of political reality, of cultural content and music, to those inside...a significant lifeline in both ways. In that spirit I wish to support the ongoing struggle and would like to add the voices of the women political prisoners and prisoners of war from inside FCI Dublin to this forum. -- Claude Marks
Statement
We woke up this morning, turned on the radio -- different programming. A phone call later we learned the station had been shut down, seized by Pacifica's corporate entity's hired goon squad, Nazi storm troopers goose-stepping to silence opposition.
Censorship and illegality of opposing injustice sneak up, waiting to shut doors and mouths. We the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and U.S. Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners are accustomed to the brutality of state and corporate power. Our voices are censored, our property and rights as human beings are appropriated, searched and destroyed. But our outrage is never dulled. If it were, we would begin to succumb to repression. We find ways to loosen the gags and chains that bind us.
Till yesterday, KPFA had been a powerful weapon to unleash the gags. Prisoners, both political and social, were heard because of the worker-staff's commitment to justice and a democratic voice alongside its steely opposition to censorship and disinformation.
KPFA is a lifeline -- to truth, a rejection of false memory, and sound-byte corporate sponsored reality.
When we heard about the folks in wheelchairs who were present at last night's demonstration, we felt a special unity with these women and men. There are far too many people in this country who are shut in. We rely on KPFA as a trusted source of information.
We do not want to be consigned to the frosty-freeze, honey-dipped U.S. media. We would be there if we could. We cannot; but we stand ready to support you in this struggle as we are able.
Forward ever --
Resistance,
Puerto Rican Prisoners of War Dylcia Pagán, Alicia Rodríguez, Ida Luz Rodríguez, Carmen Valentín
Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn
More on the struggle at KPFA
- Web site: savepacifica.net featuring the latest news, audio clips, what you can do, and more (link opens new window)
- radio4all.org More on KPFA, Pacifica and free radio(link opens new window)
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